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Fred & Dinah Gretsch Celebrate Wedding Anniversary and 130th Gretsch Anniversary
Posted: May 31, 2013
Several Gretsch fans, friends, family members and business associates converged on Randy Wood’s Pickin’ Parlor in Bloomingdale, Ga., earlier this month to celebrate the company’s 130th anniversary.
But the March 4 party was also celebrating the wedding anniversary of Fred and Dinah Gretsch, marking a truly joyous event.
A few artists were on hand, as well.
The husband-and-wife team of Richard Smith and Julie Adams got the musical festivities started, with Smith showing off his fingerpicking prowess as Adams accompanied him on the cello.
Joe Robinson was up next, and his set with bassist Marcelo Bakos and drummer Tito Pascoali offered a diverse offering of original music highlighting the Australian-born phenom’s guitar heroics.
After a brief break Robinson and Smith teamed up for an impromptu jam session, as the musicians took turns taking the lead on their Gretsch guitars. A finale of the Chet Atkins instrumental was certainly a crowd favorite.
To view a photo album of the event, click here, and watch Fred Gretsch address the audience in the videos below, in addition to performance footage of Robinson and Smith.
Tags: Anniversary, Fred & Dinah Gretsch, Fred Gretsch, gretsch, Gretsch 130th Anniversary, Joe Robinson
Posted In: Events, Lifestyle | Leave a comment
GretschTech: The Baldwin Era
Posted: May 29, 2013
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| Late Baldwin-era models: (left to right) The oddly proportioned Roc Jet and Country Roc, and the bizarre TK300 appear in the 1979 Gretsch catalog. |
Every once in a while when exploring the Gretsch world, you’ll run across mention of the “Baldwin era” or the “Baldwin years.” What does this term refer to?
Generally speaking, people use it to refer to Gretsch in the 1970s. More specifically, however, it refers to the period when the Baldwin Piano Company owned Gretsch, which was substantially longer—from summer 1967 to early 1985.
The Baldwin era is a much-maligned period in Gretsch history. The term is often used in an unflattering light to denote generally neglectful Baldwin rule that resulted in a decline in quality, unpopular new instruments, corporate upheaval and dwindling sales that ultimately led to Gretsch guitar production being shut down altogether in 1981.
Gretsch had been a family-run company ever since Friedrich Gretsch founded it in New York in 1883. But in the mid 1960s, then-president Fred Gretsch Jr. purportedly found himself with no heir interested in running the company and decided to sell. Baldwin, riding high at the time and spurred by its 1965 acquisition of U.K. guitar maker Burns, sought to acquire an established U.S. guitar maker and duly turned its attention to Gretsch. The sale was completed on July 31, 1967.
Tags: Atkins Axe, Baldwin era, Baldwin years, Country Roc, Roc Jet, Super Axe, Super Chet, TK300
Posted In: GretschTech, Home Page | Leave a comment
Depeche Mode Drops Video for Bluesy ‘Goodbye’
Posted: May 22, 2013
Depeche Mode has been releasing black-and-white performance clips for several songs off their latest album Delta Machine, and the recent video for “Goodbye” is no different.
The group is depicted inside a sparse room with big windows that reveals a city skyline as they run through the bluesy number.
Watch the band in action after the jump and visit their official website for a list of 2013 tour dates. (more…)
Tags: Angel, Dave Gahan, Delta Machine, Depeche Mode, Goodbye, Heaven
Posted In: Artists Blogs | Leave a comment
Victory Lands New Cadillac Commercial
Posted: May 17, 2013
Los Angeles-based artist Robert Fleming has a new full-length album out under the name of his latest project Victory, and one track from Victory is Music has been getting serious airplay in a new Cadillac commercial.
The spot is titled “Headphones” and features a teen boy listening to Victory’s “Bad Man” on his headphones as he jumps into his father’s new car. The boy is asked to take off his headphones, but doesn’t miss a beat of his music with the Cadillac XTS’ ability to sync playlists from mobile devices.
The entire album – much of which was recorded with Fleming’s Gretsch G6117T-HT Anniversary – features a retro vibe and gritty rock and roll foundation.
Check out Victory’s “Headphones” commercial below and visit his official website for more information.
Tags: Bad Man, Cadillac, Commercial, Gretsch G6117T-HT Anniversary, Robert Fleming, Victory
Posted In: Artists Blogs | Leave a comment
Steve Hunter Releases New Album
Posted: May 13, 2013
With support from a Kickstarter campaign, Gretsch guitarist Steve Hunter released his fifth studio solo album, The Manhattan Blues Project, on April 30.
After recording and touring with Alice Cooper in 2011, Hunter decided to get off the road to write and record this latest effort, which is an ode to his love of the Blues and New York City.
“Most albums that I hear in regards to New York are generally jazzy, which is cool,” said Hunter. “But I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something in a bluesy way because I kind of saw the more soulful part of Manhattan, and I wanted to bring that to this album. Each of the songs that I’ve written are about some piece of Manhattan that I’ve looked at in kind of a different way.”
The album also features two instrumental covers. The first is “What’s Going On” by one of Hunter’s favorite artists Marvin Gaye. He also does an instrumental version of Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill,” a song he had played the guitars on for the original album version in 1977.
Hunter, whose other tour and album credits include working with Lou Reed, Tracy Chapman, David Lee Rother, Julian Lennon, Aerosmith and Glen Campbell, had several artists willing to guest on this latest effort.
Joe Satriani and Marty Friedman lent solos to “Twilight in Harlem,” while Johnny Depp and Joe Perry teamed up on “The Brooklyn Shuffle.”
“I told Johnny and Joe to plug their guitars in and have a blast, and it sounds like they did to me,” shared Hunter.
Other artists who contributed to the album include Tony Levin, Michael Lee Firkins, Phil Aaberg, 2Cellos and Tommy Henriksen.
The tracklisting for The Manhattan Blues Project is as follows:
Prelude to the Blues
What’s Going On
222 W 23rd
Gramercy Park
Solsbury Hill
Ground Zero
A Night at the Waldorf
Twilight in Harlem
Daydream by the Hudson
Flames at the Dakota
The Brooklyn Shuffle
Sunset in Central Park
Tags: Joe Perry, Joe Satriani, Johnny Depp, Steve Hunter, The Manhattan Blues Project
Posted In: Artists Blogs | Leave a comment
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